Being visitors in our own space.

When we began our discussion about having visitors in our space, I thought that it would be neat for the students to pretend to be visiting their classroom and experience it in the same way that our guests do.  My hope was that this would allow them to appreciate their hard work, feel proud of their achievements, and respect their environment even more.

Little did I know what would happen...

 The whole room buzzed with excitement!  Students were looking through their portfolios, documentation binders from inquiries, artwork, a slideshow on the smart board, their personal best writing hanging, our learning goal, and signing the guest book.

What we never expected, was the positive feedback and thoughtful questions that they were sharing with one another orally and through the written notes that they were creating.  During our morning discussion, I mentioned that often times visitors make notes and ask questions to remember what they saw and learned.  I never would have predicted that the whole class would begin making notes.

What an authentic purpose for writing, communicating, reflecting, and being together!

My last post on this topic will be about the students' final thoughts, and what notes they recorded when they visited their own classroom.